The day has finally come — Fifty Shades of Grey has hit the big screen. Admit it — you’re going to see it, whether it’s with your gal pals or your (reluctant) man. Since the first book’s 2011 debut, Bumpies have fessed up to the correlation between the romantic reads and their pregnancies.

“I got pregnant about three weeks after I finished the trilogy! This cracks me up; my husband thinks all my romance novels are silly but he never complains about the results.”

“Yep, another Fifty Shades baby here! I’m six weeks along and was reading the last book around the time I conceived! I took a test two weeks ago, and one of my first thoughts was that my baby is definitely a result of Fifty!”

“I hadn’t put two and two together, but I had just gotten into the first book when we conceived. I had noticed book was turning up our sex a bit, but that is just hilarious!”

“This post makes my inner goddess do a back flip.”

“Christian Grey is absolutely the reason we are expecting! I read all three books twice within two weeks and well we got the BFP [big first positive] early last week. My husband also said that we should name the baby Christian if it’s a boy.”

Will the movie version contribute to a whole new baby boom? We’ll have to wait until Nov. 2015 to find out.

The U.K.’s recent approval of the “three-person baby” IVF procedure is a progressive step for fertility. So why are so many people expressing their aversion? Doctors think it has something to do with what we’re calling it.

Yes, the practice does involve using DNA from three different parents. During the IVF process, any faulty mitochondrial DNA from a fertilized egg is removed and replaced with DNA from a donor, eliminating baby’s risk of inheriting a genetic mitochondrial disease. That’s a good thing — faulty mitochondria can lead to serious problems like seizures, brain damage and heart failure. But the idea of involving three parents makes this process seem too unnatural to opponents, who claim prospective parents are “playing God” and designing our own babies.

“This will be the first time that we would intentionally manipulate the human genome,” says David King of watch-dog group Human Genetics Alert in a statement. “It is something that governments around the world have agreed for the last 20 years that we shouldn’t do. And once you cross that line, then it’s very hard to stop going down the slippery slope to designer babies.”

To get away from this idea of designer babies, neurologist Bruce Cohen says it would be better to use the term “mitochondrial transfer.” What opponents may not realize is doctors aren’t manipulating genes, or really doing anything to the 22,000 genes, for that matter, that make up who you are. They’re strickly working with the 37 mitochondrial genes outside of a cell’s nucleus responsible for organ and tissue function. Only about 0.1 percent of the DNA of a baby born from this procedure would come from an egg donor.

So where do we stand? The British House of Lords still has to approve the bill allowing mitochondrial transfer for it to become a law. And in the U.S., the FDA stalled any further testing on mitochondrial transfer in humans back in 2001. However, scientists think testing is the best way to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the procedure, and U.K. approval could be the push we need.

Their popularity is on the rise, and now their duration might be too; researchers think that intrauterine devices (IUDs) and hormonal implants may work for one year longer than their intended length of use.

A new study, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, looked at 263 woman using the IUD Mirena and 237 using the implants Implanon and Nexplanon. (FYI: An IUD is inserted into the uterus, while an implant is placed in the upper arm.) Mirena is FDA-approved for five years of use, while the implants last for three. The stipulation for participation? The women’s contraceptives had to be within six months of expiring when they enrolled, and the participants were told that there would be a risk of conceiving.

A year went by in which none of the women used any other form of birth control — just their newly-expired contraceptives. None of the women using implants got pregnant, and only one using an IUD did.

“This research is important because extended use of these devices will reduce cost to both the individual and insurer and improve convenience for women, who can delay removal and re-insertion,” says study author Colleen McNicholas, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University.

The next step? Researchers will expand the study and see how reliable these contraceptives are three years after their current expiration dates.

The dermatologist’s office isn’t the place you’d typically associated with birth control education (unless you’re on the pill for acne-related reasons, but let’s not get nitpicky). But a new study found it might be the most effective place to offer contraceptive counseling.

Published Feb. 4 in the journal JAMA Dermatology, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study found a simple fact sheet goes a long way. Researchers presented 100 women from a single dermatology clinic the same sheet about birth control options. Before reading it, 75 percent of women overestimated the effectiveness of condoms, while 51 percent did so for oral contraceptives. And 16 percent had never even heard of intrauterine devices (IUDs), one of the most effective forms of birth control.

Why does this knowledge matter? Women taking especially powerful acne medication like Isotretinoin (you may know it by its former name, Accutane) risk having babies with some pretty serious birth defects if they get pregnant, like facial abnormalities, missing or malformed earlobes and mental retardation. So knowing how to prevent pregnancy — effectively — is especially important.

The FDA already strictly regulates the distribution of Isotretinoin. It created the iPLEDGE program, which requires woman prescribed the drug to pledge to taking regular pregnancy tests and two forms of birth control while on the medication. But researchers think medical professionals can do better.

“While contraceptive counseling isn’t something a dermatologist has to do on a daily basis — like an obstetrician or gynecologist would — it does matter for young women using these drugs,” says lead study author Carly A. Werner, M.D. “Our goal was to show that a simple intervention like our handout could be added to dermatology office visits to enhance contraceptive counseling and decrease the number of exposed fetuses through more effective means of contraception.”

And that intervention did prove to be effective; followup surveys found women significantly improved their contraceptive knowledge after viewing the fact sheet.

Fertility technology improves by leaps and bounds every year. In 2014 alone, we saw the introduction of three-parent IVF and the first successful birth from a womb transplant. The bottom line? More people are able to become parents. And a new studyfound that over the last two decades, more and more of them are able to stay parents.

The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, found that the health of babies born from assisted reproductive technology (ART) has been improving for the last 20 years. Stillborn rates are down from 0.6 percent to 0.3 percent. And SIDS rates are down too — deaths within the first year fell from 1 percent to 0.3 percent. For ART twins, the rate decreases are even more dramatic.

“These findings show convincingly that, while there has been a considerable increase in assisted reproduction cycles over the past 20 years, this has been accompanied by a significant improvement in health outcomes for these babies, particularly for singleton babies,” says study author Dr. Anna-Karina Aaris Henningsen, from the Fertility Clinic at the Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen. “The most important reason is the dramatic decline in multiple births due to policies of choosing to transfer only one embryo at a time.”

The technology surrounding single embryo transfer is still being improved; it’s difficult to ensure that just one embryo will take. But Henningsen maintains that it’s the most important advancement for the health of ART babies. “Transferring several embryos in one cycle, even if it results in only a single baby, can still have a negative impact on the overall neonatal outcomes of singletons,” she says.

“By transferring only a single embryo, you not only avoid multiple births and all the health problems for the babies and mothers associated with these, but it also results in healthier ART singletons because there are fewer instances of ‘vanishing twins’ or procedures to reduce the number fetuses developing after successful implantation of several in the mother’s womb.”

Henningsen also credits better hormonal medications, improved clinical skills of doctors, stronger labs and milder ovarian stimulation for the improvement in ART. And improvements aren’t just measured by lower mortality rates; fewer ART babies are born preterm or with low birth rates.

To conduct the study, researchers analyzed over 92,000 children in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden born with the help of reproductive technology betweeen 1988 and 2007. They compared their information with much larger control groups of spontaneously conceived children from the four countries.

Infertility isn’t exactly an uncommon problem; one in six couples will struggle with it while trying to conceive. But Jaclyn Schultz — you may know her as Miss Michigan (2013) — has a much rarer condition, Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome. It affects one in 5,000 women worldwide. And this beauty queen is proudly lending her name to the syndrome in order to spread awareness.

As with most women with MRKH, Schultz, 26, didn’t realize she had the condition until puberty. “I was diagnosed when I was 16,” she told Cosmopolitan.com. “I had never had a period, so at first, my mom took me to our family doctor — they just assumed it was because I was so tall and thin and I played sports. And then a year goes by and I still don’t have a period, so we went and got an ultrasound done, and then they diagnosed me. It was kind of a whirlwind time, to say the least. I’m like, ‘What is going on? What, I can’t have kids? What, I’m only 16.'”

The condition affects the reproductive tract during fetal development, so the reproductive system doesn’t fully develop. Typically, that means women with MRKH are born without a uterus, cervix or full vaginal canal. Schultz was actually one of the lucky ones; she was able to become sexually active with minimal medical treatment. “A lot of girls who I speak to now are 16 or 17 and they’re in relationships but can’t have sex, or can’t have sex fully,” she says. “I mean you can — but your vagina opening isn’t, like, 6 or 7 inches long. It’s shorter because you don’t have your cervix. Some girls need to have surgery; some girls need to use a [vaginal] dilator.”

All of the sex talk makes MRKH a tricky topic to navigate, especially with significant others and parents. “I kept it totally secret — I didn’t say anything to anyone really for years,” Schultz says. “My parents even said, and [this happens to] a lot of girls with MRKH, ‘You can’t say anything.'”

That all changed after she clinched the title of Miss Michigan — the first pageant she ever competed in. “I was like…’There’s got to be some substance to this,’ she says. “That was fuel for me to be standing for something. I wanted to use my title for a greater purpose than for myself — so I just decided to come out with having MRKH.”

Suddenly, she was the girl without a uterus. Suddenly, she was being cast for Survivor (in which she ended up placing second). And suddenly, she was engaged to Survivor competitor Jon Misch.

“I remember we had been dating about a month, and I’m like, ‘Okay, we’re about to tell each other we love each other, and I can’t have kids, so I need to tell him,’ Schultz says of bringing up MRKH to Misch. “So of course, I was emotional and I’m like [wailing], ‘Don’t date me anymore, I can’t have kids,’ and being so dramatic about it, and he was just like, ‘Shut up. It’s fine, it’s fine.’ He was great about it! I was so nervous to tell him; I think a lot of girls with MRKH are very nervous about telling their significant others. But it’s a good way to weed out the bad ones — that’s what I say to all the girls…If you can’t talk about the most intimate part of it that is such a big part of my life, then how can I date you?”

By working with the Beautiful You MRKH Foundation, Schultz is able to lend her support and advice to other women with the condition. What’s up next for the beauty queen? She’s beginning the process of getting her eggs frozen (yep, women with MRKH still have eggs), using the $100,000 prize money from Survivor.

When it comes to birth control, the majority of American women are on the pill. And the second most popular method is actually sterilization. But even with technology introducing a new slew of IUDs and variations of pills, a more old-school form of birth control is on the rise: fertility awareness methods(FAM).

This natural family planing is typically associated with the Catholic church, but more women are turning to it simply to avoid the hormones and bodily changes associated with birth control. And FAM experts say don’t confuse it with the rhythm method; the FAM method is more detailed and more careful.

“It’s a process of becoming aware of the signals your body is giving you and keeping track of them,” explains Ilene Richman, director of the Fertility Awareness Center. This means carefully analyzing and tracking your basal body temperature (your morning temperature before you get out of bed, which rises right after ovulation), your cervix position, and the consistency of any vaginal fluid.

Overwhelmed at keeping track of all this, and getting it all right? That’s the problem with FAM; experts warn it’s one of the least successful methods of birth control because few women are able to do it correctly. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says that one in four women who use FAM to prevent pregnancy will end up pregnant. But what about when they do do it correctly? A German study tracked 900 women over 20 years who consistently (and accurately) used FAM methods. Only two percent of these women had an unintended pregnancy.

But why turn to something that’s not easy to get right? CNN reports that side effects like multiple monthly periods, acne and fluctuating emotions are what prompted 29-year-old Kacey to ditch the pill and IUDs for FAM. And just the thought of those side effects was enough to keep 25-year-old Aisha away from birth control products. “I was literally scared of hormonal birth control. I didn’t like the potential side effects,” she told CNN. “I’m a healthy person. I try to eat healthy food, so the idea of being pumped with synthetic hormones didn’t appeal to me, in fact, it was scary.”

New technologies are helping to take some of the guesswork and complications out of natural family planning; apps like Kindara help you track your data — like basal body temperature and cervical mucus — and analyze it to better understand your body. Plus, there’s a whole community portion, so you’ll receive support and feedback along the way. (via CNN)

]]>http://blog.thebump.com/2015/01/08/why-more-women-are-using-least-effective-birth-control-to-not-get-pregnant/feed/0http://i2.wp.com/xothebump.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/fertility-treatment.jpg?resize=214%2C148http://blog.thebump.com/2015/01/08/why-more-women-are-using-least-effective-birth-control-to-not-get-pregnant/
You Don't Want SNL's CNN Pregnancy Test (Watch!)http://blog.thebump.com/2015/01/01/watch-snls-cnn-pregnancy-test-commercial/
http://blog.thebump.com/2015/01/01/watch-snls-cnn-pregnancy-test-commercial/#commentsThu, 01 Jan 2015 21:43:59 +0000http://blog.thebump.com/?p=28467]]>When you choose your pregnancy test, there’s a lot of variables to consider. Do you want the test touted as the most accurate? The easiest to use? The one that promises the earliest detection? If you want constant updates and vague information, SNL’s created the CNN pregnancy test just for you.

Just like the CNN app, the test in this spoof gives the hopeful mom-to-be plenty of updates, even when that update is “no update.”

“Its relentless, breaking alerts let us know it’s working hard to find out if we’re having a baby,” she says.

But there’s only so many times you can hear: “Breaking: Search for pregnancy continues.” We’re glad this test isn’t on the market. But that’s why this skit makes the list of SNL’s funniest commercial spoofs of 2014.

We’re always amazed by what technology can do, and this year’s pregnancy and fertility innovations mean more parents and healthier babies. Here’s to an even more innovative 2015.

1. Three-Parent IVF
Do you have a genetic mutation you’re afraid of passing on to your child? In as little as two years, you may be able to swap it out with mitochondrial replacement (aka three-parent IVF). During IVF, faulty mitochondrial DNA—which contribute to conditions like brain damage, heart failure and blindness—is replaced with healthy DNA from a donor. Though three-parent IVF has yet to be carried out in humans, the FDA is currently evaluating whether clinical trials can take place stateside. Read more here.

2. A Contraception On/Off Switch
How’s this for cool? Backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, biotech company MicroCHIPS is currently developing a tiny birth control device that’s implanted into your buttocks, upper arm or abdomen and controlled via remote control. Turn it on to release the contraceptive hormone levonorgestrel, then turn it off when you’re ready to conceive. And, if you change your mind, just turn it right back on again. Bonus: It can prevent pregnancy for 16 years. Though it’s not available yet, keep tabs with your ob-gyn—it could be on the market by 2018.Read more here.

3. The First Birth From a Uterus Transplant
A hysterectomy may no longer stand between women and childbirth. A Swedish woman, who became one of the first people to receive a transplanted uterus, gave birth to a healthy baby boy in 2014. Let that sink in. This was the first child in the world to successfully be carried in a transplanted womb. The procedure will soon be coming to the States—Cleveland Clinic is planning a clinical trial for 2015, and experts hope the first US birth from a transplanted uterus will happen by late 2017. Read more here.

4. In-Utero Autism Diagnosis
The sooner autism is detected, the sooner it can be treated. So it was very noteworthy when researchers at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Research Institute discovered a genetic mutation that significantly increases a fetus’s likelihood to develop autism and autism-related subtypes. This is the first time that a genetic mutation has been directly linked to autism, and it’s a discovery that may allow doctors to diagnose the disorder in the womb, making it that much easier to get baby the help he needs once he’s born. Read more here.

5. Single-Embryo IVF Transfers
Twins are a real and ever-present result of IVF, which makes single-embryo transfer a key advancement in the field. In this infrequently used procedure, doctors are able to implant just one embryo, rather than multiples, while achieving similar success rates. Get this: Currently less than 15 percent of IVF cycles in the country use single-embryo transfer, but select fertility centers are leading the way. At Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey, for example, researchers are improving their ability to select viable embryos, and this year, more than 65 percent of its IVF cycles have happened with single transfers. “By having one baby at a time, a couple can maximize the chances of having a single healthy baby,” says RMANJ reproductive endocrinologist Thomas A. Molinaro, MD.

6. Stem Cell Gene Therapy
Each year, 100,000 babies are born with severe combined immunodeficiency. Also known as Bubble Baby disease, this heartbreaking illness isolates infants away from germs—and also from mom’s and dad’s hugs and kisses. But thanks to UCLA stem cell researchers, 18 babies born with the disease were cured with a groundbreaking form of stem cell gene therapy, which involves removing and genetically altering blood stem cells from baby’s bone marrow, and then re-introducing them back to create a healthy immune system. Even better, this new therapy can potentially help other childhood illnesses, like sickle cell disease. Read more here.

7. At-Home Vaginal Health TestReady to try for baby? An at-home ovulation kit isn’t the only test to add to your shopping list. Now you can check for vaginal infections at home with e.p.t’s new Preconception Health Test. Many women never show symptoms, but vaginal infections can mean trouble for the health of both mom and baby, not to mention interfere with conception. Luckily, this test makes detecting infections a whole lot easier, so you can get them treated before TTC, and get baby-making back on track. Learn more here.

8. Improved Embryo Screening
A single IVF attempt can cost upward of $17,000, but traditionally only one-third of IVF cycles stick, making it a very emotional and expensive process. But with the recently FDA-approved Eeva System, those odds may soon greatly improve, while the costs go way down. Using a sophisticated software program, this new system helps doctors determine the most viable embryos, rather than just eyeballing them the old way. “It’s helpful beyond words,” says fertility expert Michael Glassner, MD, of Main Line Health in Philadelphia. “It’s going to give a higher pregnancy rate; the miscarriage rate goes down. It’s just going to change the field.” Read more here.

If you haven’t already heard, the Today show’s style editor Bobbie Thomasfinally got her BFP. But it wasn’t an easy or quick road. Dealing with the emotional ups and downs of IVF gave Thomas newfound perspective on the process and inspired her to speak out about her journey on Today as well as her site, Bobbie.com, in the hopes of educating other women struggling with fertility. The newly pregnant Thomas opened up about her experience to The Bump, including how she dealt with those hormone-induced side effects, what she wish she knew earlier and the moment she found out she was pregnant.

You’re usually a very private person. What made you decide to go public?

I basically had a couple of things happen at once. First, I found myself whispering at work to colleagues who said, “Are you okay?” I was a little nauseous and faint. I would quietly say, “Eh, I am doing IVF.” I was leaving the show one day and I thought to myself, why am I whispering about this? This is an opportunity for me to try and have a family. Also a few times I noticed that people, even close friends at work, are uncomfortable when you tell them something so personal. They’re not sure how to process it…and when you don’t know something, it becomes this crazy monster in the room.

At the same time, social media started noticing my appearance. My team here at Bobbie.com—I have a nest of girls who are protective of me. My assistant, one day, was trying to shield my eyes from her computer, and it turned out she was trying to hide a comment that said, “Is that a burrito or a baby bump?” I’ve been doing TV for a really long time. This spring I’ll have been with the Today show for 10 years, and I knew a long time ago when I signed up to share information with people that I was sharing myself. But I’m human. The fact that people take notice —the five-pound difference at the time—it was just like, wow. I was touched that people were interested in how I was but at the same time I struggled. For me, I couldn’t be who I was if I wasn’t forthcoming. So those were the two main reasons that I wanted to open up.

What helped get you through each time the IVF didn’t take, and then keep moving forward with it?

Life is all about ups and downs and, of course, it is amplified when you are going through fertility challenges. For me, it was having the support system of my husband and my best friend. If you are lucky enough to have a significant other that is huge. But that could be your best friend, that could be your mom, that could be your sister, or even your colleagues. My whole team here in my office, these are my sisters. It’s like they are having this baby with me! They’ve given me shots when my husband has been out of town (we took a picture of that. It was hilarious!), they’ve picked up prescriptions, they’ve helped me when I was crying. I was really lucky between my husband, my best friend, and my team. When I had a bad day I would just lean on all of them and they would remind me why I am doing this.

And the side effects of the hormones, like the weight gain—how did you deal? What advice would you offer to women going through this?

I think the biggest thing that women talk about is the physical frustration of the weight gain and feeling hormonal. It’s hard enough, without all the drugs, for us as women to love the way we look, so you can only imagine what happens when you say, “Let’s just pump you full of hormones and then add on five to eight pounds!” But this isn’t about feeling fat—and I want to be really clear about that. Whether you are a size 6 or 26, it’s about you not feeling like yourself. You feeling like “ugh”: you’re breaking out, your face is a different shape, your feet are swollen, your favorite jeans don’t fit, your bra doesn’t fit, your underwear is tight. This is about just feeling like an alien on hormones and not being able to control that your boobs are four times their normal size and they hurt. And that you’ve got bruises all over your body.

In the hardest moment in your life, you have to stop and realize that you’ve got to be nicer to yourself. I did little things to treat myself so I could feel beautiful in ways that had nothing to do with staring at myself in a particular outfit. But I did have to look in the mirror to realize that I was strong and I was really lucky to be doing what I was doing. And when you really think about being grateful, that really got me through bad days. It was the gratitude, and it was being nice to myself. I can be meaner to myself than any social media tweet, blog, whatever.

Is there anything you would have done differently?

I did find myself frustrated after starting the IVF process that I hadn’t been told about it sooner. I couldn’t believe that I had visited numerous physicians that told me, “Don’t worry about it,” or “You can’t really test for that.” It was unnerving. I wish someone would have told me at 30 that I could have invested a little bit of money into one round of IVF to put some eggs away. In my mind, when I first talked about IVF to my doctor it was, “Okay, IVF is the solution, we’re just going to do this for one month and then we’re good. Right?” It seemed like the last resort that was the sure fix. People don’t understand, like, if you can afford it, if you can suck it up and get through all the shots and the doctor appointments and the surgery, you are still just going to be spinning the roulette wheel hoping that the number lands on you. There is no guarantee. I have met women who told me they were going through this and they always say until you walk in someone’s shoes, but wow. The admiration, the heart I have now for other women…I would give them a hug on the street if I knew what they were going through. I just wish I had known more, and that is another one of the reasons I wanted to open up about this.

It must be so amazing to finally get that BFP! Tell us where you were when you heard the news.

So I had a really rough weekend because the Friday before I was supposed to go to my doctor for the blood test, I had the worst cramping and I started spotting. Of course, I freaked out because I assumed it didn’t work. I was inconsolable. I had snot coming out of my nose and onto my mouth and I called my doctor and she was like, “I can’t understand you!” My poor husband was just sitting there, and after listening to me cry for an hour she told him to run to the store and get a pee stick. When he came back I took the test and there’s a faint line, and I’m having this whole heart attack. So I take a picture of it and sent it to my doctor and then called her and she’s like, “I’ve been waiting for this, you’re fine, you’re fine. Just relax, it doesn’t mean the worst.” So we didn’t have full confirmation yet, but we had this crazy night where I Googled the heck out of everything: Do cramps mean you aren’t pregnant? Does spotting mean you aren’t pregnant? Does it mean you’re pregnant? And for every one answer that said no, one said yes.

The following morning we went in and we did the blood test. I’m so tired from freaking out the night before that I got home and soon fell asleep sitting up and my doctor called. We called her back an hour later and she said, “I can’t believe you missed the phone after freaking out all night! But you are pregnant, it reads positive.” I just sat there in shock and I just started crying. And she said, “You’re just hormonal.” I literally laughed. I know that was a long-winded story but that is what the IVF roller coaster is.

What has this whole process taught you?

I feel so overwhelmed by love. Even the fact that you guys are interested in talking to me, I am so grateful. Whatever my experience can do to help someone else, I feel that I have been so gifted with so many friends and awesome things in my life that if there is anything I can do to help somebody else so they don’t feel alone, they don’t feel crazy, they don’t feel fat, then I’m game. I feel like if something bad still happens, I am going to have that many more people rooting for me and sending me heartfelt words.

I also just want more women including myself—I say this out loud, we just really need to be nicer to ourselves. We have to be kind, we have to realize that we are not super human. But, I think the biggest lesson that I am going to take away from all of this is to love myself a little more and to be a little nicer to myself.